LattePanda development board based on Intel Atom x5-Z8300 “Cherry Trail” processor was launched nearly exactly two years ago on Kickstarter. The board also included an Atmel MCU for Arduino compatibility, and contrary to most development boards on the market, focused on Windows 10 support instead of Linux. The crowdfunding campaign was very successful having raised over 440,000 GBP from around 4,000 backers, and now you an still buy the board and accessories on DF Robot or Amazon. The company is now back with not only one, but two new LattePanda “hackable computers”, namely LattePanda Alpha powered by an Intel Core m3-7Y30 dual core “Kaby Lake” processor, and LattePanda Delta based on Intel Celeron N4100 quad core Gemini Lake processor. This time beside offering Windows 10 Pro, they are also committed to support Linux. Beside processor, memory capacity, and storage options, LattePanda Alpha/Delta boards share most of the same specifications: SoC Alpha – Intel Core m3-7Y30 dual core / quad thread …

Intel Gemini Lake processors should be officially launched in a few weeks with Pentium & Celeron SKUs. We already have a good idea about the new processors’ features, but AFAIK so far there’s been no official announcement of products based on the new processor family, since companies must still be under embargo. FanlessTech noticed three new FUJITSI FUTRO thin clients (S540, S740, and S940), and upon further research found they were based on mini-ITX and mini-STX motherboards equipped with Intel Celeron J4005/J4105 or Pentium J5005 Gemini Lake SoC. Let’s have a look at one of the models’ specifications (FUTRO S940): Mainboard – D3543-A mini-ITX board SoC – Intel Pentium Silver J5005 quad core processor @ up to 2.8 GHz with Intel Gen9 HD Graphics supporting DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.4, Open CL 1.2, OpenGL ES 3.1, Vulkan; 10W TDP System Memory – 2 GB – 16 GB via SO-DIMM slot (DDR4, 2400 MHz) Storage – 8 to 128 GB M.2 SSD module …

Intel’s new generation of Gemini Lake and Coffee Lake processors is expected to launch at the end of this year, beginning of next, and this morning I received Intel’s NUC roadmap that gives a good idea of what’s coming in 2018 and 2019. Intel plans a whole new generation of NUCs from “Hades Canyon VR” NUCxi7HVK model with a 100W Intel Core i7-xxxxK Kaby Lake-H processor to “June Canyon Celeron” NUC7CJYH model with a 10W Intel Celeron J4005 dual core “Gemini Lake” processor. All in all a total of 7 new NUCs should be launching in 2018. Let’s have a closer look at the cheaper and lower power Gemini Lake models, starting with “June Canyon Celeron” NUC7CJYH specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J4005 dual core GLK processor (10W TDP) System Memory – 2x DDR4-2400 slots for up to 8GB RAM Storage – M.2 SSD slot, SDXC slot Display – 2x HDMI 2.0a ports supporting up to two independent displays Audio …

Last week, we saw that the upcoming Intel Gemini Lake processors integrated a CNVi (Connectivity Integration) block with a WiFi MAC, and Bluetooth MAC & Baseband Modem connected over a CNVio interface to a separate CRF (Companion RF) module handling the RF part. The design change is shown in the block diagram below with the old design on the left using wireless modules connected over PCIe and USB, and the new design on the right used in Cannon Lake/Gemini Lake processors which aims at saving power, cost, and size. Intel has now uploaded the product brief for their first wireless CRF module: Intel Wireless-AC 9560 with the following key features: Connectivity WiFi Dual band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac wave 2 2×2 WiFi up to 1.73 Gbps using 160 MHz channels Standards – IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 802.11d, 802.11e, 802.11h, 802.11i, 802.11w, 802.11r, 802.11k, 802.11v pending OS support Security WPA and WPA2, 802.1X (EAP-TLS, TTLS, PEAP,EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA, EAP-AKA’) authentication methods PAP, CHAP, TLS, MS-CHAP, MS-CHAPv2 …

So yesterday, I wrote about some of the new features of Intel Gemini Lake processors like native HDMI 2.0, 4-wide pipeline, 10-bit VP9, and possible built-in 802.11ac wireless controller. I went to bed, and somehow this morning I woke up with something that looks like Gemini Lake (GLK) block diagram, and a few more details. So we indeed have HDMI 2.0 output, as well as DP 1.2a and eDP 1.4, and an embedded wireless controller via the CNVi (Connectivity Integration Architecture) block for WiFi’s MAC and Bluetooth’s MAC + Baseband modem. We’ll have plenty of USB 3.0 host interfaces, and the usual PCIe and SATA 3 interfaces. Still no UFS support, but eMMC 5.1 is supported, as well as x128 DDR4, LPDDR3 and LPDDR4 memory up to 2400 MHz (No ECC support). Cache size is confirmed to be 4MB for up to four GoldMont Plus (GLM+) cores, which combined with the wider pipeline (4 vs 3) will contribute to 10% …

Most recent low power Intel mini PCs are now based on Apollo Lake family with SoC such as Celeron N3450 or Pentium N4200, but we’ve known for a while that Gemini Lake processors will succeed those starting in Q4 2017, and we can expect some Celeron/Pentium SKUs like Intel Pentium J5005 or Intel Celeron N4000, but so far I had not seen that many details. However, an anonymous tip pointed me to some interesting publicly available information. First, a kernel patch reveals a little about the CPU pipeline: Add perf core PMU support for Intel Goldmont Plus CPU cores: – The init code is based on Goldmont. – There is a new cache event list, based on the Goldmont cache event list. – All four general-purpose performance counters support PEBS. – The first general-purpose performance counter is for reduced skid PEBS mechanism. Using :ppp to indicate the event which want to do reduced skid PEBS. – Goldmont Plus has 4-wide …

While Laptops and mini PCs powered by Intel Apollo Lake low lower Celeron and Pentium processors are slowly starting to show up, and should go into full swing in 2017, Intel is also working on their successors, which according to a leaked roadmap for 2017-2018 will be Gemini Lake processors. Gemini Lake will also have a 4 to 6 Watts TDP, and come in a BGA package, but there’s nothing much else we know, except the first processors should become available in Q4 2017 or Q1 2018. Other families include mid-range Cannon Lake family with 5.2 to 15 W TDP with some Core M and Core ix processors, and the higher-end Coffee Lake family succeeding Kaby Lake and Skylake processors. Another slide shows Gemini Lake processors will target the same products as Braswell and Apollo Lake processors with 2-in-1 laptops, ultra-thin notebooks, and mainstream notebooks. I’m pretty sure we’ll also see Celeron Nxxx and Pentium Jxxx Gemini Lake processors in …